The following Austrailian provisional patent applications are hereby incorporated by cross-reference. For the purposes of location and identification, U.S. patent applications identified by their U.S. patent application serial numbers (USSN) are listed alongside the Austrailian applications from which the U.S. patent applications claim the right of priority.
Not applicable.
The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus and, in particular, discloses a high quality copier.
The present invention further relates to the reproduction of images.
Recently, a camera printing system has been proposed by the present applicant which involves the printing out of images via an inkjet printing device, the images being imaged by a camera CCD array or the like and printed out via an integral printer.
One extremely popular form of camera technology is the traditional negative film and positive print photographs. In this case, a camera is utilized to image a scene onto a negative which is then processed so as to fix the negative. Subsequently, a set of prints is made from the negative. Further sets of prints can be instantly created at any time from the set of negatives. The prints normally have a resolution close to that of the original set of prints.
Unfortunately, with digital camera devices, including those proposed by the present applicant, it would be necessary to permanently store in a digital form the photograph captured and printed out if further copies of the image were desired at a later time. This would be generally inconvenient in that, ideally, a copy of a xe2x80x9cphotographxe2x80x9d should merely require the initial print.
Of course, alternatively, the original print may be copied utilising a high quality colour photocopying device. Unfortunately, any such device has limited copy capabilities and signal degradation will often be the result when such a form of copying is used.
Obviously, more suitable forms of producing copies of camera prints are desirable.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a high quality method of reproduction of scanned images.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of generating print data from a printed image produced by a printing device operating at a first dots per inch (dpi) value so that the image is composed of a plurality of dots, the image incorporating defects resulting during printing of the image, such as rotation of a print medium and blemishes of the image, the method comprising the steps of:
scanning the printed image, at a sampling rate which corresponds to a second dpi value that exceeds the first dpi value by a predetermined factor, which is such that each dot of the image results in the generation of a set of at least two markers;
generating data relating to the position and colour value of each marker;
detecting the defects in the image and assigning a data value to such defects;
processing said data and applying the data value assigned to the defects to determine which of each of the markers generated for a respective dot should be recorded as a centre for that dot; and
generating print data as a result of the processing step, the print data relating to the position and print value of the markers determined as a result of processing the data.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for generating print data from a printed image, the apparatus comprising
a printing device that operates at a first dots per inch (dpi) value to generate the printed image, so that the image is composed of a plurality of dots, the image incorporating defects resulting during printing of the image, such as rotation of a print medium and blemishes of the image;
a scanning device positioned downstream of the printing device for scanning the printed image, the scanning device being configured to operate at a sampling rate which corresponds to a second dpi value that exceed the first dpi value by a predetermined factor, which is such that each dot of the image results in the generation of a set of at least two markers, the scanning device being configured to generate data relating to the position and colour value of each marker; and
a processor that is connected to the scanning device and is configured to receive said data from the scanning device, the processor being capable of analysing said data for the defects, applying a data value to the defects, and processing said data together with the data value to determine which of each of the markers generated for a respective dot should be recorded as a centre for that dot, and generating print data relating to the position and colour value of the markers so determined.